Austrostipa macalpinei (Reader)
S.W.L.Jacobs & J.Everett. Telopea 6: 587 (1996).
Classification. (GPWG 2001) : Subfamily Pooideae. Tribe Stipeae.
Basionym and/or
Replacement Name: Stipa
macalpinei Reader, Victoria Naturalist 15: 143 (1899).
Type of Basionym or
Protologue Information: Hilly Mallee country and sandy heaths, Lowan,
Dimboola Shire, 1892, F.M. Reader s.n..
Recent synonyms:
Stipa lachnocolea.
Key references
(books and floras): [1952] C.A.Gardner, Flora of Western Australia 1
Gramineae (176 as S. McAlpinei), [2002] D.Sharp & B.K.Simon, AusGrass,
Grasses of Australia, [2006] J.Jessop, G.R.M.Dashorst, F.M.James, Grasses
of South Australia (86), [2009] A.Wilson (ed.). Flora of Australia,
Vol 44A. Poaceae 2 (25).
Illustrations:
[2006] J.Jessop, G.R.M.Dashorst, F.M.James, Grasses of South Australia (87, fig. 48), [2009]. A.Wilson (ed.),
Flora of Australia 44A: Poaceae 2 (37, Fig 5).
Habit. Annual.
Culms erect, stature robust to moderate, 20–90 cm tall, 1 -noded. Mid-culm
nodes glabrous. Lateral branches simple. Leaf-sheaths glabrous on surface or
hairy. Ligule an eciliate membrane, 1–15 mm long, membranous, truncate or
obtuse. Leaf-blades filiform, flat or involute or convolute, 1–2 mm wide.
Inflorescence.
Inflorescence compound, a panicle or a panicle. Panicle linear, 10–35 cm long.
Spikelets.
Spikelets pedicelled. Fertile spikelets 1-flowered, comprising 1 fertile
floret(s), without rachilla extension, lanceolate, terete, 22 mm long.
Glumes. Glumes
similar, thinner than fertile lemma, shiny. Lower glume lanceolate, membranous,
without keels, 3 -nerved. Upper glume lanceolate, 8–14 mm long, membranous,
without keels, 5 -nerved.
Florets.
Fertile lemma 7 mm long, without keel. Lemma surface indumented. Lemma apex
lobed, awned, 1 -awned. Median (principal) awn 60–200 mm long overall, with a
twisted column. Column 14–40 mm long. Palea without keels. Grain 3–4 mm long.
Continental
Distribution: Australasia.
Australian
Distribution: Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria.
Western Australia:
Irwin, Drummond, Eyre, Avon. South Australia: Eyre Peninsula, Murray,
Southern Lofty, Kangaroo Island, South-eastern. Victoria: Grampians,
Lowan Mallee.
Notes. The species can be
readily recognised by the characteristic hairs on the leaf sheaths.
Drier parts of western Victoria,
in heath and near coastal localities in southern South Australia and in the
southern regions of Western Australia (but apparently not on the Nullarbor
Plain).
